2019, Sat, Jul 06

Daughters of the Dust

D: Julie Dash, USA 1991, 112 min., Gullah OV with English subtitles

Film still, Daughters of the Dust | courtesy of Park Circus Cohen

Diaspora and Utopia: African-American family portrait in the Southern states of the USA around 1900

In 1902, the Peazant family is living on an offshore island in the Atlantic Ocean: three generations of descendants of enslaved Africans, members of the still isolated Gullah culture. Now they plan to move to the US mainland. The director puts Nana, the matriarch, and her daughters-in-law at the center of a visually stunning, non-linear narrative; the men remain more on the sidelines of the story. The will to change versus traditions, Christianity versus spirituality, good versus evil memories.